The Council Has Spoken! This Week’s Watcher’s Council Results – 02/15/13

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match-up.

“When one with honeyed words but evil mind
Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.”
― Euripides, Orestes

This week’s winner, Joshuapundit’sWhite House On Benghazi: ‘No More Questions!!’, is my reaction to testimony and statements from SecDef Leon Panetta, JCS Chief General Dempsey, the president and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Benghazi debacle that all directly contradict each other… and the White House’s insistence that we all move along now, no more questions. Here’s a slice:

The White House is getting downright testy about U.S. Senators (not to mention the rest of us) continuing to ask unanswered questions about the Benghazi debacle.

White House spokeshole Jay Carney had a major hissy fit after Senator Lindsay Graham threatened to put a hold on the nominations of Chuck Hagel and John Brennan unless the administration was more forthcoming:

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Monday blasted Senate Republicans for threatening to block Defense Secretary-nominee Chuck Hagel and John Brennan, nominated to head the CIA, in a quest for more information about what President Obama did on the night that terrorists killed four Americans in the U.S. Consulate in Libya.

“We have answered these questions,” Mr. Carney said. “The president found out about the attack in Benghazi in a meeting with his secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs from his national security adviser. He immediately ordered those two leaders to take every action necessary to try to position forces in a way that could assist in Benghazi and also potentially take action, if necessary, elsewhere, because of all that was enfolding around the region.”

He added that Mr. Obama was “regularly updated and kept appraised [sic] of events in Benghazi and in the region throughout that evening and into the night.”

“Those are the facts,” Mr. Carney said.

Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta told lawmakers last week that he didn’t have any communication with the White House on the night of the Benghazi attack after informing Mr. Obama of the assault during a meeting at the White House late in the afternoon.

So Jay Carney is either misinformed or lying. Or both.
Actually, I assume President Obama probably voted present that evening, based on past performance. The questions I want answered are far different.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Amity Schlaes with The Small Presidency submitted by Joshuapundit. It’s a wonderful piece on why returning to small government may be the ultimate answer to America’s problems, by a superb writer whose upcoming biography of Calvin Coolidge I can’t wait to get my hands on.

Okay, here are this week’s full results. Only the Right Planet was unable to vote this week, but was not subject to the mandatory 2/3 vote penalty:

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in… don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter… ’cause we’re cool like that!